The Batman casts its Riddler and it’s a superb choice

On the heels of Zoe Kravitz being cast as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Matt Reeves’ The Batman movie, we now have news about one of the other major villains set to appear…

With news recently breaking that Jonah Hill, who was being considered for either Riddler or Penguin, had pulled out of negotiations and was no longer interested, we have quickly learned that The Riddler has indeed been cast.

Actor Paul Wano has been cast as Edward Nash – the villain who will eventually take the name Edward Nygma (this is going deep into the Batman lore) AKA Riddler.

Wano is a little known actor (well, until now I’d imagine) but an utterly brilliant one, with roles in Little Miss Sunshine and There Will Be Blood under his belt.

It’s an unexpected choice, but a welcome for sure.

Net up, we’re also hearing that for Penguin, Warners/Reeves may be looking at Seth Rogan. Now, I’m gonna called doubtful on this one as it just feels wrong… but you never know. And Rogan – the man behind The Boys and Preacher – is a big comic book fan, so there definitely could be fire to go with the smoke on this one.

These are definitely interesting choices – Wano in particular is a solid actor and can bring the clever and the creepy with aplomb.

In related news, Robert Pattinson, our new Batman/Bruce Wayne, has been talking a bit about the role and the director and it seem e’s going with the darker side of Batman – as Affleck’s Batman said in Batman V Superman: “We’ve always been criminals, Alfred.”

“He’s a complicated character. I don’t think I could ever play a real hero — there’s always got to be something a little bit wrong. I think it’s because one of my eyes is smaller than the other one.”

Going on, he talked about Reeves’ take on the world’s greatest superhero: “I love the director, Matt Reeves, and it’s a dope character. His morality is a little bit off. He’s not the golden boy, unlike almost every other comic-book character. There is a simplicity to his worldview, but where it sits is strange, which allows you to have more scope with the character.”

It certainly looks like, one way or the other, this Batman will be the spiritual follow-up to the ground work laid by Zack Snyder and Ben Affleck. And that’s just fine with me.

And finally, at the Royal Albert Hall, Michael Giacchino, composer for The Incredibles and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, has announced that he will compose the score… here’s a video of him confirming to director Matt Reeves that he will take the gig.

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars.
He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer.
He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot.
Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….